This daoist spied a widow, her ho wracked by [Winter’s] wrath.
How cruel were the Heavens to have rooms sodden by snow’s lted plague and her floors blackened by all that ca after.
“It has stood for forty moons,” was her complaint. “My husband’s hands were skilled.”
The [Paifang], freshly manifested so many li over, cared not.
“These rains are not old rains,” said this daoist. “They are more, and new,” and so the forest was inspected.
“The City Lord is kind. These trees might be cut,” she offered.
“These trees are old trees, but must be older yet to beco new.”
“Observation of Heavenward Properties, Daoist [Ponderous Carpenter]”
The stagnancy was not of overwhelming proportions. To liken its force to his concept, that of Inevitability, he found it lacking.
With cyclic gestures outstretched from his lotus, Fu toyed with the wind’s ribbons. [Death Qi] was a pervasive elent, but here he found little in the way of finality. What purity of Qi he reaped from the surroundings was shallow, as was the insight he might glean for his [Dao of Four Horizons].
He could not find benefit in conjuring the mory of a mildly disconcerting gale down upon his enemies.
For this reason, he stopped.
“Master Ban often remarks about both Zhu and I’s lack of inclusion. An assassin that does not chase the [Dao of Death] or [Dao of Execution] as most others do. Well, we would not find insight into it here even if we were to chase it.”
Hushi illustrated a point by conjuring five separate poisons upon each arm.
“Hah,” smiled Fu. “I suppose that all things are derivatives of the two. Life and Death. A cycle of change we now know intimately.”
One half of us, at the very least.
Separated by the spatial boundaries of this [Mystic Realm], and perhaps more, the distant pang of resonance tethering they and their twins could scarcely be felt. Only the [Heartplu of Clouded Schisms’s] presence spoke of it at all.
The impressions from Hushi on this were regular. He was intensely curious for their return, pondering what equilibrium or effect would co about when they would finally et their second selves after ascension to late [Core Formation].
But that was a later concern.
This realm’s [Sumr] had arrived.
A tense circuit marked Yuling and Nuwang’s impression through the grass below. Tension crackled between this pair and the fetid [Spirit Badger] across.
Of [Death Qi], the beast’s ferocity was belied only by an emaciated form.
Yuling struck like floating leaves.
Her saber dissuaded this beast’s raking claws once, twice and a third until she shifted weight to breach its guard. Deep was the cut along its side. Rage-fuelled was the retaliation of fangs.
The technique Grandmother Hua had begrudgingly recomnded was nad [Reckless Saber Severs Trees]. Problematically, this to was not in their possession. Thus these strokes were from the Sepulchral Saber Sect’s foundational to, [Imitation Footwork, Saber].
Without intangibility, its effectiveness brought Yuling closer than she ought to be.
Fu observed the myriad, bleeding cuts she inflicted before Nuwang’s rear leg was ostensibly shredded, birthing a shriek from both.
Slothful mist rose from the assassin’s pipe. How cruel it would be to spoil this opportunity.
[Life Qi]-rich blood incensed the [Spirit Badger]. Great gouges were carved in its wake, rending earth and grass in its pursuit of a hobbling Nuwang and grief-stricken Yuling, scrambling from its advance.
But her breathing returned swifter than lightning. A steady, initiate’s suppression that brought regularity to her stance.
“Nuwang. This is no assassin,” she declared, clutching the saber as though the beast was no more than firewood to split.
Then all sight of her vanished beneath its trampling weight and a wet tear perated the space.
Adequate.
Plastered in foul viscera, Yuling butchered her way free from the now-corpse to finally rest upon a knee. “My sister, are you well?”
“The warrior’s sha, sister. A blow upon one’s rear. It will not be repeated,” growled the proud lioness.
Yuling grit her teeth, resolute. Under the regi of her training Fu had forbidden all but ten [Spirit Cores], storing these in a mundane pouch over any form of spatial storage. She drew one now, siphoning the vast quantities of [Life Qi] to repair Nuwang’s [Foundation Realm] flesh with relative ease.
[Three Wisps From Breath].
A grand working of mists released at the hill’s base, lifting one partition of his making. This door dispersed to the sound of guttural rumblings, loosing two [Spirit Boar] in the peak’s direction.
The daughter readied.
🀧
Father and daughter t on the eighth day.
Her eyes were now darker for different reasons, as was the slump to her once-pristine posture. A good instructor could not spoil their disciple with too much sleep, for a heavy dozer was one that would sooner not wake at all.
He intervened at the brink, appearing as three [Spirit Hawks] dove with teoric speed. [Intent] flared, leaving only the screeches as they fled from his path.
“Father,” she bowed, forcing through the weariness.
Hushi embraced her first.
“I had known one daughter to be a lion, but both?” he chuckled. “You do proud.”
Nuwang’s head lifted higher. “Indeed.”
“Gratitude. These are kind words. We await your next instruction.”
Another chuckle fled his lips, and he motioned her to begin walking. Her voyage over these past days had led into a flatter grassland crowned in each cardinal direction by an array of colossal, ancient teeth of disparate shapes.
Beneath the curve of a profoundly thick canine, Fu called for rest. “The [Three dicinal Migrations] wards off much need for temporary [Defensive Arrays].”
“[Qi Suppression] surely does benefit from its addition,” mused Yuling. “It would be suspect to sense a [Defensive Array] that does not hold sothing within, no? I glimpse part of your reasoning on external ans now, father.”
“Birds flock to the tallest trees, and so serpents might rest easy within their bushes. You have the way of things. Now, I would know a thing,” he smiled. “What aning is there in death?”
The smith’s crafted saber was at rest on her lap. In truth, a dull thing of no ornantation, bearing great resemblance to the Jianghu’s many jian save for its singular edge.
Her hand did not stray far from the hilt.
“We do not know it intimately enough,” Yuling finally said.
“A wise answer. Then, tell what you felt.”
Cultivator and partner shared a asured look, as if the lioness was granting permission. “At our first eting, the link between Nuwang and I was muddied. A sha upon each of us that we could not parse mory and reality for those fledgling days.”
Shuidi rose attentively. “Few stains of reconstitution mark you, Nuwang. Were this Gao Shuidi a lesser talent she might hold envy for it has gone unnoticed until now.”
I had not asked. How poor of . There is ti beyond this to learn of my daughter’s origin.
“mories of hunts through life-rich wood and dense lilac roots. The feel of a carcass between my teeth. Ascension to the middle stages of [Core Formation]. Nuwang suffered more from mundanity than I did these vestiges of victory and struggle. But through this trial father, I feel closer now to her than I might have thought possible.”
“A wiser answer yet,” smiled Fu. “That Nuwang carries forth her knowledge of conquest is a boon. But independently, what do you feel? These [Spirit Beasts] are not mindless, even if lacking in the [Spirituality] to reason their way from this trial. Speak on this. “
This answer was swift. “Defying Heaven is a bloody Path.”
Fu inwardly frowned.
Whose words are these? Not my daughter’s.
“This is Yuling’s voice, and yet I fail to hear her,” he admonished. “If this is what you think I wish to hear then this father has failed miserably.”
Yuling’s head drooped in sha. “As I said father, I do not know it intimately enough.”
“Sothing to be joyous of. Indulge , please.”
“Forgiveness. Grandmother’s teaching was ever to speak in decisive blows. With surety. If I must answer now, then I might only say that I feel detachnt. That I cannot bridge the need for advancent, the thrill of combat and the extinguishnt of another’s soul for my solitary benefit. Before we bonded, Nuwang hunted, competed, pushed her conquest to secure safety from growing [Spirit Beasts]. Here I stand, honing my saber against others that have no part nor need to be involved.”
Softly, Shuidi appeared at her shoulder. “Kindness would have responsibility placed on Gao Fu, Gao Hushi and this Gao Shuidi. That is an unwanted blanket. Think not of these beasts as you would a partner. Search Nuwang’s will for the truth of it.”
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Yuling caressed her saber. “Aunt?”
“One must know cold to recognise warmth. Morality, righteousness, cause, justice. This training is for instinct, yes, and to develop your response to true threats unconstrained by those of sparring matches. But it is also so that you might recognise death, know its cost, and choose if it is worth paying.”
Before any further conversation, Fu produced their al. The realm of these foodstuffs was high enough that it did not quickly degrade, and this was aided by the slowing effect of being stored within his ring.
The fish broth was delicious, if better warm.
So began a talk of smaller things. A chance to better know the woman his daughter had beco outside of fresh training and the confines of routine. In exchange, he allowed her to ask on things her siblings should never discover.
Shuidi’s greatly embellished tales of the Clouded Courts lasted until neither lioness nor daughter could hold back sleep.
Strange, then, for as the moon rose atop this realm Fu thought it a rare sight. A stark thing, and [Death Qi’s] hold had the night cool even in [Sumr’s] presence, but a beauty. “Hushi, Shuidi, the night is yours.”
The [Spirit Crab] waved this suggestion away, content with Master Ban’s prescribed readings.
Hushi found greater joy rely watching night descend on the realm. His impressions spoke of rumination and an eagerness to remain by their daughter’s side.
Thus Fu only nodded. “Then I will return by morning.”
🀨
Administration and consolidation had steered Fu’s vessel since his arrival ho. There had been much talk of backing, establishnt and changes for posterity, presenting an interesting challenge for the once-fisherman.
To solidify his family with all his tenure had granted.
The mass grave about him was not of this ilk.
An assassin rarely stumbled upon opportunity, but it was well docunted that they seized all they ca across.
These emaciated corpses from a suspected, infantile [Beast Tide] were strewn in vast swathes, long succumbed to his bloody practice.
[Prowess] increased.
[Stifling Stream Revolutions], [False Imitation] [Peak] attained.
[Might] 75, [Control] 60
Condensed [Intent] wisped about him as if translucent wind.
In tandem with the restraining [Air Qi] his subsequent blows would loose in a protracted clash, this [Spiritual] component ensured a swift debilitation.
Fu curled his hand as he vanished the [Intent], noting the crimson splashes upon his sleeve.
An early developnt. Against another’s [Spiritual] attack, if delivered physically, the flow of [Intent] should be an adequate counter. Only a fool would applaud himself at this stage, it needs further refinent.
His site of battle was many hundred li from Yuling, though dawn rose all the sa.
[Dao of Four Horizons].
As expected, both she and Nuwang were awake. Cultivating despite the suppressive elents of the surrounding realm, sheltered beneath Hushi’s watch.
Heightened [Senses] were no blessing when her [Impurities] gushed from pore, mouth and visible orifice.
“Father, a hundred apologies for our delay,” she said once thoroughly cleansed by Shuidi’s conjured water. “This daughter is aware that ti pressures us.”
He clasped her shoulder. “A fresh [ridian], here of all places. Hah, do not worry over ti Yuling. For my talented daughters there is no rush beyond the end of my vacation. One day or one [Autumn], our ti concludes when I impart all your foundations should be. No sooner.”
Her hand caressed his, warmly. “Have you changed, father? Those robes are different.”
“Have I?” he smirked. “Uncle Zhu’s influence runs deeper than you suspect. For one should cripple their cultivation if dressed the sa way twice!”
His joke was poor, but drew laughter nonetheless.
“Father,” sighed Yuling. “What are we to practice now?”
He smirked again.
Several days passed in unrushed voyage.
A ti to explore the [Mystic Realm] as they moved to Fu’s intended destination. The lessons were small across this ti, for the instinctual use of her [Three dicinal Migrations] had not yet co to her, and Fu viewed this as chief among all her developing talents.
His demands rotated.
[Intent] used to startle a weaker beast, her saber the next. How close she might tread to a slumbering [Spirit Bat] before it detected her. Musings and concepts that those born within the Jianghu would know intrinsically - those Fu had suffered for not knowing.
Yuling was not alone in her gained insight.
Alongside the daughter’s practice, Fu enacted small… he supposed they were experints, in the context of the tos Bingbai had him learn. Another word for practice, in his mind, and yet one ascribed to scholars and those on Paths of knowledge.
[Pull] supported these acts.
In a flattened expanse of pale grassland, he expanded his [Senses]. His own were not as prodigious as Zhu’s, and lacked the greater refinent of others, but for this simplicity they proved sufficient.
There are a vibrancy of souls here. To na them living in only a half truth.
For several li he felt the roaming [Spirit Beasts], the stagnant haze of platforms, the dense saturation of Qi within earth and stone. With no hold over [Death Qi], he could rely recognize its presence as it brushed against his own, anemic [Affinities].
[Pull].
The periter of his [Senses] beca a net.
Nuwang prickled so steps ahead.
[Air Qi] and [Water Qi] flocked to him from all directions, represented in thin, ethereal streams. To onlookers it might well have seed a migration of serpents, myriad as they were. If true to this likeness, these serpents found a nest in Fu’s curled palm. They condensed in short order, becoming an orb of multifarious pale tones atop which he focused his scrutiny.
“The sample range was four li,” he voiced, exchanging thoughts with Shuidi. “My [Senses] detect no natural treasure to provide a fluctuation in the ambient Qi, as the to dictated. With an… an adjustnt for the [Qi Abundance] of this realm’s [Law of Origin], using the absence to asure an average of purity-”
“Density, Gao Fu,” chid Shuidi.
Fu studied the orb further. “Density. Then, if we make corrections based on the natural bolstering of the realm’s [Qi Abundance], I would say our sample range stands at the lower end of middle [Core Formation].”
Shuidi clacked disapprovingly. “The tos are like cloying mud. Gao Fu uses a jian to cut weeds where a gentle pluck is needed.”
He stroked his whisker. “Hmm. But the guess was correct?”
“A fool guesses.”
“Just so,” he agreed. “Then, to basics. The Qi I have sampled is of my [Affinity], but that is not representative of the realm’s own [Affinity]. Aside from [Spiritual Herbs] and materials that hold [Death Qi] as absorbed over ti, nothing interferes with the ambient composition. But neither can I eliminate the elents of Qi we hold no control over. An [Array] would serve us better.”
“Gao Yuling, forget all your father says on external ans. This is no longer his belief.”
As the Old Master had manifested it gave Fu a physical presence upon which to cast his withering look. “The mathematics behind this escape . To calculate the whole using the absence created by my [Pull], that requires numbers I have yet to na. I will revisit this after further practice.”
Shuidi clacked once more. “You forget yourself. We hold a ans of touching the ambient Qi, far swifter than any scholar’s notes.”
This drew pause for a mont.
“The [Clouded Ghost Arts].”
His [Spirit Crab] partner made a show, expanding the range of her suppressed aura. As it forced equilibrium with the surrounding Qi, erasing presence entirely, this change was not represented visually.
Their link differed, for through it he felt the full behaviour of her technique.
Fu mimicked this. With an expansion of his own range, he slowly adjusted the output of his breath. At first he restrained himself to a [Foundation Realm] cultivator’s force, having the ambient Qi dive in compensation.
Ah.
With a steady climb through the realms, he t an output that did not have the ambient Qi shift to accommodate him.
“Sister, did I not say this asured at the lower end of middle [Core Formation]?”
“Gao Fu guessed. This is not the sa.”
Yuling stepped forth as his smile widened. “Father, if able, might I know why you are doing this? I see the rit for intelligence gathering and insight, but I am rely curious.”
A shallow ascent had taken the party beneath the shadows of arched bone. Bleached formations spaced curiously, or not so, equidistant from the next. The landscape sculpted towards their end, for the surrounding hills, grasslands and valleys ended in place of the sight beyond them.
“A ans to an end, though the latter I cannot say. Learning is a weightless treasure, is it not?”
Another test of the ambient Qi saw it spike dramatically and sweat grew to slicken Yuling’s brow, if to no complaint as Fu led farther on.
They crested to a view of crimson banners, detailed with familiar serpents. Ornantation for a jawline of myriad bones and a skyline of uncountable watchtowers of this sa affiliation. In the following footsteps even a mortal might hear the concerted cry of a thousand drawn bowstrings.
The [Reliquary] stood ahead.
A pristine monolith of ivory amidst the silver grasses. Yet it was queer against the colossal bones, standing no taller than three lengths of a cultivator’s body nor any wider than the sa. At its southern face there gaped a hollow of midnight black, towards which all bones seed to bend in supplication.
Hushi stirred from rumination, lifting the douli.
“All my life has beco cannot be shared yet, daughters. Secrets beyond secrets that would do naught but trouble your advancent. Thus I ask you place your trust in until the ti where I might say more.”
Both Yuling and Nuwang bowed. “You need not ask, father.”
Pride ward him.
“Then stand tall,” he smiled.
Great horns set the realm to tremble, bellowed from each watchtower in sequence. For all the activity he sensed atop them no disciples descended to query them. In place of it, he heard Qi-amplified calls from the closest.
“Cultivators, this place is restricted. To linger here is to defy the Cloudy Serpent Sect and court death in equal asure,” projected a stern, female voice.
Fu set his gaze on the [Reliquary’s] hollow and the erging head now roused by each deafening horn. “Do not fear it.”
Where scales of flesh would cover any mundane serpent this titan held none. Sheets of interwoven, gleaming bone plated the beast ahead. Seamless with fang, eye and jaw. Indeed, the [Trial Guardian] looked as if hewn from Heaven’s ribcage.
“Do not fear it,” thundered the serpent. “Rodents cannot recognise the imnsity of I.”
More amplified cries resounded. “See the weight of your transgression, cultivators. Be it greed or misplaced step, Heaven has sealed your fate.”
The serpent tore great fissures in its wake, devastating the realm as it sought to end those that dared trespass. [Killing Intent] gave sprout to dense, flickering flas across its surface, assuring a long and bloody death.
Shuidi scoffed, arriving on Yuling’s shoulder. “This Gao Shuidi tires of paper tigers.”
“Paper tigers,” the daughter disbelievingly repeated.
A courteous guest would et it halfway, no? Else another [Season] will pass before it reaches us.
Fu’s [Divine Sense] invaded the titan. “There is no need for that,” ca his granite warning. “I co only to petition your aid.”
The serpent bayed like a windless sail so steps away. Pride carried forth a defiant hiss despite all that assailed its [Spirit].
“Moon-scaled. Star-taker. [Winter]-reaper. Think not that kinship spares you. Sin walks before this serpent! It is tasted, yes, that-” Its words broke in a violent recoil, and swiftly drove its head to the ground. “Forgive this re serpent. To crawl before the breaker of a thousand stars-”
“Peace, noble beast,” smiled Fu. “I do not co for what you think. For a favour only, as I have said.”
“If safety is assured, ask, venerable one.”
His hand grasped Yuling’s shoulder. “A taste of your [Trial] for my kin. I am certain so small an inconvenience can be arranged.”
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